Shutterfly Signs Landmark Printer Deal

California-based photo printing service company Shutterfly Inc. closed a landmark five-year deal to buy 20 new HP-Indigo industrial digital printing presses, a total of 45 presses including the 25 bought last year, replacing 77 Xerox presses, the companies announced Wednesday.

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, Nasdaq-listed Shutterfly manufactures and sells personalized photo-based merchandise including photo albums, greeting cards, and calendars. It employs over 2,000 people and has offices in the U.S. and Israel. The company announced a $1.13 billion annual revenue for 2016 In February.

HP-Indigo's manufacturing plant in Kiryat Gat, Israel

In 2016 the global market for photo printing and merchandise was estimated at $14.7 billion according to a March report by market research company Future Market Insight. Shutterfly’s competitors include San Francisco, California-based Snapfish Inc., and Amazon. The latter launched a competing online service called Amazon Prints in September 2016, Sending Shutterfly's stock price down 14% over the next month.

In 2001, Hewlett Packard bought Israel-based Indigo, a digital press manufacturer, founded in 1977. Currently operating as HP’s digital printing division, the company is headquartered in Ness Ziona, 15 miles southeast of Tel Aviv. It lists Nestle and Coca-Cola as clients.

Weighing 11 tons, each of the presses sold has a price tag of over $1 million, an HP-Indigo spokesman said. HP-Indigo's lion share of the profit will come from the maintenance and supplies the presses necessitate, he said, giving the deal a total worth of over $90 million.